No backs, no defense? No problem for Geno Smith. He, DK Metcalf rally Seahawks past Rams

Starter Kenneth Walker was out injured. Fellow running back DeeJay Dallas limped off.

The defense was still mostly sick.

It was Geno Smith or bust for the Seahawks trying to get back into NFC playoff position Sunday at the fallen Los Angeles Rams.

He didn’t bust.

“That’s how I play the game. I want to take over the game,” Seattle’s resurrected quarterback said.

“The quarterback in the NFL is the critical piece to the team. You don’t have a quarterback, it’s going to be hard to win. For me, that’s what I pride myself on: my guys being able to count on me, no matter the situation. Being reliable for the team, for the city.”

This team, its city, absolutely has a quarterback. It’s the one no one thought would do what he’s done this season. What he did again Sunday against the fallen defending Super Bowl champions.

Smith threw for 367 yards, the most of his 10-year career that began as a rookie starter then meandered through seven years of being a mothballed backup. Smith was 6 for 9 passing for 65 of the 75 yards on this game’s final drive. Five of the other yards were on a defensive penalty.

He completed his first three passes on his last march Sunday. On third and 10 from the Rams 40, Tyler Lockett broke open. Smith’s bullet pass hit him in the chest. Lockett fell forward for 10 yards and the first down. Then Smith showed trust in Marquise Goodwin for his first catch Sunday, 17 yards to first and goal at the 9.

Then, Smith rolled right, looked left. DK Metcalf sprinted across the end zone, beating All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey in one-on-one coverage. Smith’s pass was perfect. Metcalf’s 9-yard touchdown with 36 seconds left allowed the wounded Seahawks to escape L.A. with a 27-23 victory.

“It was an all-time comeback drive,” Carroll said. “And he did it.

“Perfectly.”

It was Smith’s first game-winning comeback drive as a Seahawk, in four seasons with the Seattle. The first three before this one he almost never played, idled as Russell Wilson’s backup.

Wilson is in Denver, 3-9 and setting the Seahawks up for a possible top-five pick in next spring’s draft from Seattle’s trade of him to the Broncos.

Smith is the favorite for NFL comeback player of the year and has the Seahawks (7-5) holding a playoff spot with five games left in the regular season.

“It’s just what he’s doing, and the season that he’s playing,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. “We’re lucky to have him.”

Los Angeles had taken a 24-20 lead with 2:56 left when Cam Akers pranced into the end zone from 6 yards. Seattle continued to fail to stop the run, allowing 171 yards rushing by reserve Rams.

It was up to Smith to win it.

Unlike late games against Pittsburgh and New Orleans filling in for injured Russell Wilson last season and against Atlanta early this season and Las Vegas just last weekend, Smith won it.

His drive ended Seattle’s two-game winning streak and restored the Seahawks back into a playoff spot in the NFC.

“Honestly, I’ve been aware that he needs that. He needs one of those chances to do it,” Carroll said. “It just hasn’t worked out quite right.

“He was incredible down the stretch. I wish you guys could see how poised he is, how clear he is to communicate with, how poised he is in the moments, the big moments and all. He is just on. And he has to be, to be performing the way he’s been performing, consistently, for so long now.

Lockett, defensive captain Quandre Diggs and Smith himself also credited the 32-year-old veteran’s poise.

Smith also credited Carroll, for showed the Seahawks highlights of the late Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant Saturday night at their JW Marriott hotel at LA Live, next door to where Bryant won NBA titles inside the Staples Center.

“When you have those moments in the game — Coach showed us Kobe last night, and the ‘Mamba’ mentality, that’s what he was all about, is going out there winning late in the games,” Smith said. “So we embrace that challenge. We look forward to it.

“I think I told you guys that. I look forward to that next opportunity. And that was it. And we got it done today.”

The league’s leader in completion percentage entering Sunday and all season, Smith completed 28 of 39 passes against the Rams for the 367 yards — with 238 of those yards in the second half. Lockett caught nine of his throws for 128 yards. Metcalf had eight catches for 127 yards against the defense that led the NFL coming in allowing the fewest big plays this season.

The man who lost his Jets starting job in 2014 after a teammate sucker-punched him and broke his jaw had three more touchdown passes, for 22 this season. He also threw his sixth interception of the year that the Seahawks didn’t feel was a turnover.

No matter. The Seahawks are back in the NFC playoff race.

Washington (7-5-1) tied at the New York Giants earlier Sunday. So the Seahawks (7-5) slid back into the seventh and final playoff spot in the NFC, a half-game ahead of the Commanders for the final wild-card spot with five games left in the regular season.

For a moment in the third quarter, it looked like Smith might join Walker, Dallas and starting safety Ryan Neal (bruised knee) as sidelined by injuries Sunday.

Early in the third quarter Smith got shaken up, on a hit, sack and lost fumble. He bent over as he shuffled toward the sideline. He went to a Gatorade cooler to sit down and get examined by a trainer. No. 2 QB Drew Lock began warming up, as if to protect the Seahawks’ precarious, 14-13 lead.

But Sunday became what this season has become. He refuses to be denied.

“Man, that’s a big-time moment, man,” Lockett said of Smith’s game-winning drive. “A lot of people had their own opinions of quarterbacks and what they can and can’t do, and the biggest thing Geno does is, he just puts his head down and he just works. He just does what needs to be done.

“Just the poise. Just not letting things shake him.

“Even when things are going wrong, it’s like Geno taps into another level. That’s just having a strong mentality, because when things don’t go your way, man, it’s easy to start doubting yourself, start feeling down...

“Geno’s strong mentally, man. He’s come a long way in this league. The things that he’s experienced and the things that he’s overcome, drives like this, I mean, that’s probably nothing to him from what he’s overcome.”

Bobby Wagner reunion

Bobby Wagner said this past week this was just another game.

Yeah, right.

His first NFL game against the Seahawks after 10 years and a Super Bowl title began with huge smiles. The Rams’ six-time All-Pro linebacker Seattle released this spring to save $16 million against the 2022 salary cap met Seahawks captains Al Woods, Quandre Diggs and Nick Bellore with hugs and big grins at the center of the field as they met for the pregame coin toss.

Bellore, a 12-year veteran, cherished the moment.

“You don’t really get many chances to play against a guy that’s been with your team for so long,” Bellore said.

“I know it was a special one for him.”

Sure was.

It was one of the best games of the 32-year-old Wagner’s 11-year career.

“He played great. He’s a Hall of Famer...we knew it was going to be a battle going against him.”

Wagner had two sacks in the first half, tying his career high for an entire game he first set Jan. 1, 2017, for Seattle against San Francisco. Sunday was Wagner’s 163rd regular-season game.

Late in the third quarter, Smith threw late outside attempting to connect with reserve running back Tony Jones, forced by injuries to play. Wagner closed fast on the ball. Jones appeared to catch it and have both knees on the ground. Wagner then ripped it from Jones’ arms. Officials arriving ruled an interception for Wagner.

A replay review seemed destined to confirm Jones had the ball and down on the ground to end the play. The Seahawks’ offense came back onto the field, in anticipation of that ruling. But the officiating headquarters at NFL offices in New York decided the ruling on the field should stand. Wagner had his first interception this season.

On the sidelines sidelines, Carroll screamed. He threw his gum. It was as irate as the 71-year-old coaches gets during a game.

After the game, Carroll, simmered down by the victory, said he will also joke with Wagner that wasn’t an interception.

Tariq Woolen. Again.

Fewer than a dozen plays into his NFL career, opponents just don’t throw much at Tariq Woolen.

The Seahawks’ rookie cornerback showed why in the second quarter.

With the Rams driving for the go-ahead score, quarterback John Wolford (filling in for injured Matthew Stafford) threw in Woolen’s direction for the first time all game, to running back Kyren Williams. Woolen leaped and picked off the pass at the Seattle 16 for his sixth interception this season.

That gave the NFL’s defensive rookie of the month for October a share of the league lead in interceptions.

It also set a Seahawks record for a rookie season.

Woolen said he laid back on Williams and baited Wolford to throw that way.

“Those type of balls, especially those deep ones, I feel like those are ones I like the most,” Woolen said. “Because when they come, they look like they are mine.”

The Seahawks’ offense went nowhere with that turnover. Center Austin Blythe had the offensive line’s third false start of the first half. Then Wagner blitzed up the middle past Dallas and sacked Smith on third down. Michael Dickson then punted.

The offense not moving off its own goal line resulted in a field-position exchange in the Rams’ favor. They needed just 23 yards on their subsequent possession to get a 53-yard field goal. That cut Seattle’s lead to 14-13 into halftime.

Los Angeles’ second target of Woolen was also impressive by the rookie. Rams receiver Tutu Atwell was four steps behind Woolen as Wolford threw late in the third quarter. But by the time Wolford’s pass arrived, Woolen’s 4.26-second speed in the 40-yard dash made up the lost ground. He knocked the slightly underthrown pass away for an incompletion instead of a touchdown. The Rams punted to end that drive.

Seattle stayed ahead 17-13.

“On the deep ball, I never feel like I’m beat,” Woolen said.

“I just trust my abilities.”

Geno Smith sharp early

Smith threw three exquisite passes on a drive early in the second quarter to give Seattle its first lead. One was on third down when he was getting hit in the chest, for 25 yards to Metcalf.

The third of those three brilliant throws was on third and goal. Smith perfectly lofted his pass over two Rams defenders onto the hands of tight end Noah Fant in the back of the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown. The Seahawks led 14-10.

That lead stuck into the fourth quarter.

It offset another poor start for a Seahawks defense the Buccaneers and Raiders shredded to begin the previous two games. Playing without starting quarterback Matthew Stafford, Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp and their top two running backs, the Rams easily drove down the field on the game’s opening possession for a touchdown.

The only good play for Seattle’s defense on that opening drive was a pass breakup by...nose tackle Bryan Mone.

Seattle allowed 319 yards by the Rams — but only 111 after halftime.